What image comes to your mind when you hear the term anorexia nervosa? Historically, eating disorders have been viewed in predominantly negative terms as “mental” disorders, most commonly occurring in females 10 to 25 years old. Kreipe’s perspective emanating from the integration of concepts of human ecology, the normal “tasks of adolescence” and brain development yields a more comprehensive approach that facilitates treatment acceptance and eschews negative stereotyping often applied to patients with an eating disorder and their families. Whatever image is in your mind with respect to eating disorders will be challenged by this presentation. As a board-certified pediatrician and adolescent medicine specialist at the University of Rochester, Dr. Richard Kreipe, MD, has applied the biopsychosocial approach developed more than 50 years ago. Rather than dichotomize illness into medical or psychiatric domains, the approach considers all levels of the “person” — from molecules to community — to be dynamically interactive. This approach is guided by an ecological framework, recognizing that young people have a powerful influence on their environment (including parents, siblings, family, peers, school, neighborhood, etc.) and their environment profoundly influences their growth and development with potentially long-lasting effects. In 1985, Kreipe established the interdisciplinary Child and Adolescent Eating Disorder Program in Pediatrics at the University of Rochester. He has served as the medical director of the New York State Department of Health’s Western NY Comprehensive Care Center for Eating Disorders since its inception in 2005, covering a 30-county area. His best teachers have been patients and their families. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx
